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Thread: Blood And Money: Joan Robinson Hill

  1. #1
    Mrs. Watson Guest

    Blood And Money: Joan Robinson Hill

    Joan Robinson Hill was the only daughter of Ash Robinson, a Texas oil man of the old school variety. She was one of the "horse set", a spoiled only child who retained her sweetness and charm underneath a veneer of wisecracks and cussing like a sailor. She'd had two short lived marriages and enjoyed being a darling of the social pages in Houston during the early sixties.

    At a dinner party, she met Dr. John Hill, a poor but handsome plastic surgeon from the sticks. She fell in love and they married. John, however, was a bit of a snob who was clearly a plastic surgeon solely for the paycheck. He cultivated Joan's friends and the society figures of the day.

    He came from a stone cold Pentacostal family and was rather a stiff. He considered Joan's earthy talk and behavior demeaning, and rather than a roll in the hay with his super sexy wife, prefered a night of classical music. Alone.

    To make a long story short, John took up with a divorcee, fed Joan pastries that made her, and some houseguests sick, and eventually, Joan fell into a coma. He refused medical treatment for her, until her parents and her maid insisted. He had her transported to a small hospital miles away from their home, rather than one of the big medical centers nearby. Joan died, from undetermined causes.

    Ash, her father, suspected John of posioning her from the beginning. He used every influence he had and eventually John was brought to trial. There was no definative evidence and a mistrial was declared.

    Three years later, John was mysteriously killed in an alleged attempted robbery by a pimp, who was shot a few months later by police in a suicide by cop. The pimp's driver was his whore, and a junkie, a woman named Marcia whom he called "Ding." As in Dong.

    Much specualtion that Ash was behind John's murder, but it was never proven, never brought to trial.

    Reader's Digest Condensed Version of Blood And Money, by Tommy Thompson, which, if you havent' read it, is a must for any death/crime hag.

    Thanks to Baroque for the suggestion and Laura, add what I've missed!

  2. #2
    Tebssis Guest
    Texas oil money and greedy cheatin' spouses, that has all the makings for great reading. Thanks, Mrs.W.

  3. #3
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    Great post MRS Watson! Thanks for doing it. From memory of the book and what I have been told from some people who lived it....Joan was adopted by Ash and his wife and she became Ash,s obsession. Yes. she got fancy American Saddlebred horses (trained by the legendary Lee Roby) and eventually her own farm. Mink coats and diamonds to wear to all the social events and parties. Big drinking, high society crowd she ran with always getting in the newspapers. HOWEVER her first two marriages were dominated by her father ASH. He was not going to let her have a normal life and she apparently thought it easier to go back to Daddy, until she met the new guy in town....a dashing young plastic surgeon named John Hill.

    My avitar is the two of them shortly before her becoming ill and dying.

  4. #4
    RaRaRamona Guest
    Very interesting. Must read more...

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    Here is a picture of Joan with two of her champion show horses (American Saddlebreds) which she showed all over the country but during her era Pin Oak was a major show in Houston started by the Ambercombes and very pretigious with lots of oil money families having their horses brought in from Kentucky for it during the SouthWest Circuit which included Tulsa and Dallas. It was big time when people would still wear formal attire to attend a horse show. Huge Social set,

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    Joan and John did get married and moved into a River Oaks mansion down the street from Daddy Ash. They had one son that they called Boots. Then the strange John Hill did start offering his wife certain pastries to eat....freaking out if someone other than Joan might have tried to eat one. She fell into a bedridden illness and he neglected to get her proper medical attention as Mrs Watson had explained. The once strong vibriant socialite was dead.
    Meanwhile John Hill marries his mistress right away. Cant remember her name but she outed John during his trial and causing a mistrial by telling the court room that she had seen Johns secret stash of petri dishes where he apparently grew virus and bacteria from random nasty samples from the hospitals sick and dying. His soon to be exwife told the jury that John confessed to her that he mixed that crap into the pasteris he fed Joan,

  7. #7
    RaRaRamona Guest
    Ew that's sick!

  8. #8
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    Between that mistrial and the next John had found himself another wife and they were coming home from a vacation (still living in the mansion he shared with Joan) when they open the door to see Boots the child and johns mother hogtied.....Just then a man with a gun comes out of the house and shoots John Hill killing him.
    Was John Hill a victim of random violence or was it a hit payed for by Daddy Ash?

  9. #9
    Lisamarie Guest
    What a dickhead!! Jeesh...rich people man..thye are screwed in the head!

  10. #10
    Mrs. Watson Guest
    The first woman John took up with was Ann Kurth, a VAVAVOOM divorcee he met at a summer camp both their sons were attending. Ann was in a canoe with her boys when John paddled up, alone in his own canoe. He asked to take some pictures, stood up in the canoe and promptly was dumped in the drink. He got up from the water, dripping wet, still taking pictures.

    He left Joan, briefly, for Ann. Ann, for all her physical charms, was a bit of a wack. He and Joan reconciled, and Joan was hopeful. She was still in love with John. Although John moved back home with Joan, he continued to see Ann at every opportunity. Ann hated this arrangement. Joan was dead, shortly thereafter and within two weeks of burying his wife, John had applied for a marriage license and he and Ann were married.

    John was one very weird dude. He admitted to Joan that he was a virgin when they married and only enjoyed sex if it was illegal or immoral. Joan told him that wasn't normal and he agreed and she pledged to help him with overcoming it. The only problem, she could never get him in the sack.

    He had a brother, Julian, who also went to Baylor Medical School, as did John. Julian became a psychatrist and he harbored deep secrets. Julian was a homosexual, something his Pentecostal religion frowned upon. Julian could never reconcile this and hung himself.

    John was obsessed with classical music and built an elaborate, state of the art music room in their home. It contained a Bossendorger piano, in addition to a Yamaha grand. It was the size of a hotel ballroom with a double height ceiling; the walls were satin brocade in gold and white, glimmering above the parquet floor. It boasted a library of over 2000 albums, the sound system costing over $20,000, with over four miles of wiring. It even had a movie screen. The cost of building the entire room exceeded $100,000. Keep in mind, it was 1969.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by baroque1 View Post
    Joan and John did get married and moved into a River Oaks mansion down the street from Daddy Ash. They had one son that they called Boots. Then the strange John Hill did start offering his wife certain pastries to eat....freaking out if someone other than Joan might have tried to eat one. She fell into a bedridden illness and he neglected to get her proper medical attention as Mrs Watson had explained. The once strong vibriant socialite was dead.
    Meanwhile John Hill marries his mistress right away. Cant remember her name but she outed John during his trial and causing a mistrial by telling the court room that she had seen Johns secret stash of petri dishes where he apparently grew virus and bacteria from random nasty samples from the hospitals sick and dying. His soon to be exwife told the jury that John confessed to her that he mixed that crap into the pasteris he fed Joan,
    BOOT, not BOOTS; ROBERT HILL was nicknamed BOOT by his grandfather, ASH ROBINSON.

    The mistress and wife # 2 was named ANN KURTH. She died about 10 years ago.

    Wife # 3 was named CONNIE.

    It was rumored that ASH had actually fathered JOAN with the madam he allegedly got to place the 'hit' on JOHN. I think that her name was LILA PAULUS.

    It was JOAN' good friend DIANE SETTEGAST who got the ball rolling by telling old ASH about how when she'd been a houseguest at JOAN' house the week leading up to JOAN' death that JOHN was performing this weird ritual of bringing home a box of pastries each night and telling each person present who was going to eat which; the theory being that he'd put something in JOAN. The (then) mistress who later became wife #2, ANN, claimed that JOHN was growing something or other in Petri dishes under a hot lamp in the bathroom of the apartment that JOHN kept for their sex trysts. The theory was that JOHN grew bacteria that he then put into these eclairs that he fed JOAN. DIANE recalled that the one night JOAN wanted to swap her eclair for JOHN' creme puff and that he was most insistent about each person eating what he'd passed out.
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mrs. Watson View Post
    The first woman John took up with was Ann Kurth, a VAVAVOOM divorcee he met at a summer camp both their sons were attending. Ann was in a canoe with her boys when John paddled up, alone in his own canoe. He asked to take some pictures, stood up in the canoe and promptly was dumped in the drink. He got up from the water, dripping wet, still taking pictures.

    He left Joan, briefly, for Ann. Ann, for all her physical charms, was a bit of a wack. He and Joan reconciled, and Joan was hopeful. She was still in love with John. Although John moved back home with Joan, he continued to see Ann at every opportunity. Ann hated this arrangement. Joan was dead, shortly thereafter and within two weeks of burying his wife, John had applied for a marriage license and he and Ann were married.

    John was one very weird dude. He admitted to Joan that he was a virgin when they married and only enjoyed sex if it was illegal or immoral. Joan told him that wasn't normal and he agreed and she pledged to help him with overcoming it. The only problem, she could never get him in the sack.

    He had a brother, Julian, who also went to Baylor Medical School, as did John. Julian became a psychatrist and he harbored deep secrets. Julian was a homosexual, something his Pentecostal religion frowned upon. Julian could never reconcile this and hung himself.

    John was obsessed with classical music and built an elaborate, state of the art music room in their home. It contained a Bossendorger piano, in addition to a Yamaha grand. It was the size of a hotel ballroom with a double height ceiling; the walls were satin brocade in gold and white, glimmering above the parquet floor. It boasted a library of over 2000 albums, the sound system costing over $20,000, with over four miles of wiring. It even had a movie screen. The cost of building the entire room exceeded $100,000. Keep in mind, it was 1969.

    Sounds like you've been reading either

    BLOOD AND MONEY

    or

    PRESCRIPTION: MuRDER

    am I right ?
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  13. #13
    Mrs. Watson Guest
    Blood And Money is one of my all-time favorite books.

    Tommy Thompson was a helluva a writer.

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    Yes, Kelt you are right...it is Boot. I have my Blood and Money book in storage...so only going from memory and what the horse show people have told me. In fact, one of the top breeders who is also a doctor was in practice with John Hill way back then. His name has been changed in the book but he thinks that John really did murder Joan. I really want to read Anns book but I agree with Mrs Watson that Tommy Thompson was "a helluva writer."

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    Wasn't this an episode of "Dallas"?
    Stay in Drugs. Eat your School. Don't do Vegetables.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cleanskull View Post
    Wasn't this an episode of "Dallas"?
    Dont know, but they did make a tv movie about based on Ann Kurths book starring Farrah Faucette (sp?) many years ago

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    I think I will go hang out at Barnes and Noble and read the book.
    Stay in Drugs. Eat your School. Don't do Vegetables.

  18. #18
    Yony'sGirl Guest
    If you like Tommy Thompson - you should read Serpentine. Excellent read!

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    http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/...howtopic=10315

    Here is an interesting link in Houston....where it all went down!

  20. #20
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    In the bottom left hand corner is Joan and Beloved Belinda her Amatuer Five Gaited Worlds Champion. She had her custom riding habit made the same gray color as her horse which was cutting edge in that era

  21. #21
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    Yesterday the current owners of the home on Kirby held a society Halloween celebration. Three people came dressed up in Joan costumes (including carrying tainted pastries).

    Eek.

    Houston society certainly knows how to eat their own...

    "Habitat for Humanity benefit raises the dead three times over

    Three "Joan Robinson Hills" showed up Friday night at Laura and John Spalding's River Oaks mansion, the very house where in 1969 the horsewoman/socialite was allegedly poisoned by her husband, Dr. John Hill.

    (He was shot to death at the front door of the house after a mistrial in the case in which he was accused of feeding her tainted pastries.)

    Debra Grierson stepped out as the fashionable equestrian in classic Hermès while husband Mark Grierson wore scrubs and carried a tray of pastries and hypodermic needles. Suzette Betts was a more playful Hill in riding attire and carrying her own plate of éclairs. Our fave was Todd Ramos, dressed in boots, riding pants and fitted jacket with ascot and carrying a riding crop. "I'm Joan Robinson Hill," he deadpanned."

    Wow-funny but terribly tacky.

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  23. #23
    Mrs. Watson Guest
    Great clips, Laura!

    She was a beauty and so was Beloved Belinda.

    Cleanskull, you can probably get the book at your library, as well.

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    Quote Originally Posted by baroque1 View Post
    Great post MRS Watson! Thanks for doing it. From memory of the book and what I have been told from some people who lived it....Joan was adopted by Ash and his wife and she became Ash,s obsession. Yes. she got fancy American Saddlebred horses (trained by the legendary Lee Roby) and eventually her own farm. Mink coats and diamonds to wear to all the social events and parties. Big drinking, high society crowd she ran with always getting in the newspapers. HOWEVER her first two marriages were dominated by her father ASH. He was not going to let her have a normal life and she apparently thought it easier to go back to Daddy, until she met the new guy in town....a dashing young plastic surgeon named John Hill.

    My avitar is the two of them shortly before her becoming ill and dying.
    I thought your avatar looked familiar. Read the book and saw the movie years ago. Chilling. Guess he didn't believe in divorce.
    Last edited by cindyt; 03-29-2008 at 09:27 AM.
    GOD IS NOT DEAD





  25. #25
    1karenhb Guest
    Interesting, was not familiar with the story. That was one screwed up family.

  26. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yony'sGirl View Post
    If you like Tommy Thompson - you should read Serpentine. Excellent read!
    Great tip. Thanks

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    Quote Originally Posted by cindyt View Post
    I thought your avatar looked familiar. Read the book and saw the movie years ago. Chilling. Guess he didn't believe in divorce.
    He didn't seem to mind divorcing wife #2, ANN KURTH.
    Then again, 2 deaths in such a short period of time would have raised more red flags.
    Personally from what I have read about the good doctor, I think that he was guilty as shit !
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    Yeah well according to Ann Kurth he did try to strangle her and smashed the car they were riding in on the passengers side ...so I think after two attempted murder Ann divorced him pretty quickly and testified against him at his trail...then wrote the book. She was convinced forever that he did it to Joan and almost did it to her.

  29. #29
    Mrs. Watson Guest
    I think he was guilty, as well,Kelt. I also think Ash orchestrated John's death. He certainly had the money and the shady connections.

    I would have loved to see a forensic psychological profile of John. I don't think he was insane, but I think he had some serious mental disturbances.

  30. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by baroque1 View Post
    Yeah well according to Ann Kurth he did try to strangle her and smashed the car they were riding in on the passengers side ...so I think after two attempted murder Ann divorced him pretty quickly and testified against him at his trail...then wrote the book. She was convinced forever that he did it to Joan and almost did it to her.
    I'd take (the late) ANN KURTH' word with a grain of salt.
    She was no dummie, but liked to promote the notion that she was so blindly in love with JOHN HILL that she had no idea what he was up to. I had to laugh when I watched the tv movie about the case and they cast KATHERINE ROSS, she with the mastered doe eyed innocence as put upon wife # 2 ANN. The real KURTH was a sharp, occassionally calculating shrew.
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  31. #31
    Sam Guest
    Here's a link to photos of the John Hill/Joan Robinson Hill house in Houston.




    Last edited by Sam; 07-04-2008 at 05:09 PM.

  32. #32
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    Blood and Money is great. I live not too far from River Oaks...all the oil millionaires, plastic surgeons, Houston Rockets, etc, live there. The cost of the house seems a little off...seems I read his music room alone cost a million to install..for the hags...Ash Robinson had her exhumed and there's a pretty good description of it.

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    Wow, I read Blood and Money so many years ago I barely remember the even the most minor details. Now I'm gonna have to dust off the old book and read it again!
    Just drink lots of Kool-Aid, and take one of these blue pills three times a day.

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    Quote Originally Posted by baroque1 View Post
    Great post MRS Watson! Thanks for doing it. From memory of the book and what I have been told from some people who lived it....Joan was adopted by Ash and his wife and she became Ash,s obsession. Yes. she got fancy American Saddlebred horses (trained by the legendary Lee Roby) and eventually her own farm. Mink coats and diamonds to wear to all the social events and parties. Big drinking, high society crowd she ran with always getting in the newspapers. HOWEVER her first two marriages were dominated by her father ASH. He was not going to let her have a normal life and she apparently thought it easier to go back to Daddy, until she met the new guy in town....a dashing young plastic surgeon named John Hill.

    My avitar is the two of them shortly before her becoming ill and dying.
    I thought that was Joan and John Hill in your avatar. Damn, what a story!

  35. #35
    Tebssis Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Sam View Post
    Here's a link to photos of the John Hill/Joan Robinson Hill house in Houston.




    I looooveee checking out million dollar realtor sites!! Did you check out the faucets in the bathroom???? The GOLD sink? And WTF is that horse doing with that woman in that inlaid painting in the mirror in the music room??
    That whole painting was a little disturbing! I think it was a little strange that the realtors would include a close up of it instead of another feature of the house. Things that make you go, hummmmm.
    Thanks for the link, Sam.

  36. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by suzycreamcheese View Post
    Blood and Money is great. I live not too far from River Oaks...all the oil millionaires, plastic surgeons, Houston Rockets, etc, live there. The cost of the house seems a little off...seems I read his music room alone cost a million to install..for the hags...Ash Robinson had her exhumed and there's a pretty good description of it.

    Where is the discription?

  37. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alanwench View Post
    I thought that was Joan and John Hill in your avatar. Damn, what a story!

    Yes, it was now I have Coco Channel photo by Man Ray

  38. #38
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    What became of Robert "Boot" Hill?

  39. #39
    NOVSTORM Guest
    You may be interested to know that Robert Hill is now 46 years old, and he lives on the east coast where he's a prosecuting attorney. He won't talk about the murder case, nor will he reveal where he lives because he wants privacy.

    CK this about the murder
    Click here: Joan Robinson Hill Murder Saga - HAIF® - Houston's largest internet community

  40. #40
    mcconk2 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by baroque1 View Post
    Here is a picture of Joan with two of her champion show horses (American Saddlebreds) which she showed all over the country but during her era Pin Oak was a major show in Houston started by the Ambercombes and very pretigious with lots of oil money families having their horses brought in from Kentucky for it during the SouthWest Circuit which included Tulsa and Dallas. It was big time when people would still wear formal attire to attend a horse show. Huge Social set,
    I'm sorry, not trying to be a smart arse, did you mean Abercrombie?

    If you did, that is a bit of a coincidence as I worked for Cameron Iron Works in Australia, once owned by a Mrs Abercrombie. She also owned a team of wrestlers, boxing troupe, and possibly a lot of other playthings. I started in 1988 and she sold in 1990.

    cheers

  41. #41
    Sam Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Tebssis View Post
    I looooveee checking out million dollar realtor sites!! Did you check out the faucets in the bathroom???? The GOLD sink? And WTF is that horse doing with that woman in that inlaid painting in the mirror in the music room??
    That whole painting was a little disturbing! I think it was a little strange that the realtors would include a close up of it instead of another feature of the house. Things that make you go, hummmmm.
    Thanks for the link, Sam.

    That Fresco is ugly! The colors are too bright and it looks primitive.
    A softer more elegant one would be more appropriate.

  42. #42
    Tebssis Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Sam View Post
    That Fresco is ugly! The colors are too bright and it looks primitive.
    A softer more elegant one would be more appropriate.
    I thought that too, but I guess just because you have money doesn't mean that you have good taste.

  43. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by NOVSTORM View Post
    You may be interested to know that Robert Hill is now 46 years old, and he lives on the east coast where he's a prosecuting attorney. He won't talk about the murder case, nor will he reveal where he lives because he wants privacy.

    CK this about the murder
    Click here: Joan Robinson Hill Murder Saga - HAIF® - Houston's largest internet community
    Thanks so much, I always wondered about Robert.

  44. #44
    Vamp Guest
    I'm amazed he wasn't convicted. What woman would be stupid enough to marry him after that? Well, OJ managed to find a girlfriend after his murder trial.

  45. #45
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    Lest we forget how charming and believeable sociopaths can be when they want something or someone! They go to great lenghths to portray someone they are not and to con the person who they want something from. They can hone in on someones weakness and use it for their gain. While you and I would never do this and may be surprised that anyone would.......its the way they work.

  46. #46
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    After Joan Robinson Hill died, Hill married Ann Kurth, with whom he had a love affair while Joan was still alive. The marriage of Hill and Kurth lasted nine months.
    The former Connie Hill, who married John Hill after he was divorced from Kurth, still lives in Houston. Now 44, she is married to James C. Calaway, who is in oil and gas exploration.
    Dr. Hill's son, Robert Hill, 26, is an assistant to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee in Washington. He also is a first-year law student at Catholic University of America at Washington, D.C. Robert, who is single, is in town this weekend, visiting the Calaways.
    Rhea Robinson, Ash Robinson's wife, still lives in Pensacola. Robinson, who doted on his grandson, whom he gave the nickname Boot," was estranged from Robert after Hill's death. Robinson was accused, but never indicted, of paying the slayers of John Hill to do the job.
    Robert Hill and his grandmother now reportedly enjoy a good relationship.
    Police in Longview, gunned down Vandiver, the alleged triggerman, before he could be tried.
    McKittrick's whereabouts could not be determined.
    Hill's second wife, the former Ann Kurth, in the wake of the slaying of Hill published a book, "Prescription Murder", supporting Robinson's suspicions of the doctor in Joan Robinson Hill's death.
    Kurth also charged in her book that Hill during their nine-month marriage tried to kill her and that Hill probably had caused Joan Robinson Hill's death by feeding her pastries contaminated with human fecal bacteria.
    It was Kurth's story that formed the basis for "Murder in Texas", a television movie about the Hill case. Kurth maintains that John Hill is still alive. The TV show based on her book ended with the same implication.
    She also sued the late Tommy Thompson, author of the most widely acclaimed book on the case, "Blood and Money", alleging a number of inaccuracies about her in the book. She lost the lawsuit. As recently as two years ago, Kurth, calling herself practically a total recluse," was living on Lake Travis near Austin. Directory assistance in Austin had no listing for Kurth.

    found this in the Houston Chronicle archives mid 1980s

  47. #47
    RoRo Guest
    I remember watching the movie with Farrah Fawcett and then reading the books..I was fascinated with this case for awhile back then.

  48. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sam View Post
    Here's a link to photos of the John Hill/Joan Robinson Hill house in Houston.

    The photograph above shows how the house looks now, 40 years after the death of JOAN ROBINSON HILL. The dormer windows on the 3rd floor were not there during the HILL ownership.


    * * * * * * * *



    The two photographs above show how the house at 1561 KIRBY DRIVE looked around the time of the deaths, circa 1969 & 1972.



    JOAN ROBINSON HILL
    in a 1961 newspaper article
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  49. #49
    LoveRats Guest
    I read Blood and Money at least 10 times, I was fascinated by so much concerning this case. A couple years ago I did some online searches and finally found something about their poor son, Boot, who despite the odds has become a well-adjusted, normal adult, who inherited his mother's passion for horses. Was glad to know there was at least a small bit of a happy ending for someone.
    Kate

  50. #50
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    The owner of that horse in the above picture I knew about 20 years ago when his daughter, who is about my age, rode with the same trainer as myself. Very nice family and they would give me rides from the hotel to show grounds as I was always showing as a kid on my own. They still have show horses so I should seek them out this season and ask about Joan. I didnt know there was a connection although it makes sense....I probably know more people who knew her than I realize as I grew up on the Southwest Circuit.
    One of my trainer friends here in Kentucky mentioned her the other day while commenting on her former trainer being so drunk he used to miss classes at shows but he said Joan didnt care because she liked to drink too. Dont know how true that is. I didnt get any details as we were just talking about how the industry had changed over the years and a trainer couldnt get away with that now days.
    I told my lawyer he's better step it up or we would both end up on an episode of "SNAPPED"

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